Effects of Composted and Vermicomposted Sugarcane Industry Wastes and Farm Manure on Tomato Quality and Yield

Abstract

A field study was conducted to signify the use of sugarcane industrial and dairy farm wastes through composting and vermi-composting and application to tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum L) crop to evaluate any effects on growth, yield and fruit quality. Composts and vermi-composts of FM (Farm Manure), SB (Sugarcane Bagasse), SP (Sugarcane Pressmud), mixture of SB×SP×SE [sugarcane effluent (1:1:1)] @ 10 t ha1, respectively were applied before transplanting of nursery. The fertilizers NPK @ 81-76-76 kg ha-1 were also applied in all plots. Overall, there were significant (p≤0.05) impacts of treatments on agronomic and fruit quality traits. Plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, number of fruits and yield were increased by 37, 67, 62, 59 and 24% with FMVC (Farm Manure Vermi-Compost) treatment over control. There was 6% increase in soluble solids of tomato fruit in FMVC plots compared with control treatment. However, maximum titrable acidity (0.0081mg citric acid/100g) in fruit juice was found in MVC plots. TN (Total Nitrogen) concentration of tomato fruit juice was increased by 1.74% in with FMVC over control treatments. Maximum lycopene contents (22.19 mg kg-1) were observed in FMVC plots as compared to all other treatments. It could be concluded that all treatments improved growth, yield and quality of fruit compared with control; whereas FMVC treatment performed better.